‘I almost refused Raazi as I had no dates’

Actor Rajit Kapur believes that luck played a big part in him landing the role of Alia Bhatt’s on-screen father in Raazi, directed by Meghna Gulzar. He says, “When I first met Meghna, the dates didn’t work out. I said, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t have the time to do this film. If it’s meant to be, it will be.’ After some time, one of the chief assistant directors said, ‘Our schedule has changed’. In the new schedule, every date that we wanted was available, and that’s when it came true about it being meant to be.”

Best remembered for playing detective Byomkesh Bakshi in a ‘90s TV show, Rajit feels that Raazi is one of the best films he has been offered. “Working on the film was absolutely amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever received such a complete screenplay in many years; so, I believe that was the biggest trump card. There was so much homework that had been done, so much research, every word or dialogue and visual image so beautifully captured on paper; I don’t see how it could go wrong. It was such a good team of actors, with such a brilliant cameraman,” he says.

Rajit has played quite a few supporting roles in films, such as a priest in Baar Baar Dekho (2016) and Arjun Kapoor’s dad in Ki & Ka (2016).

On whether the length of a role matters to him, the actor says, “It doesn’t bother me at all. It depends on what you do with even one scene. I remember when I saw the rough cut of Ghulam (1998), I saw this one flashback scene and I said, ‘Who is this amazing actor?’. It was Ashutosh Rana! It was just one scene, which proves that it’s enough to showcase the presence, potential and talent of a person, provided the scene is written well. Agar main sirf chashme aur kapde pehen ke khada rahoon, that won’t mean anything. It has to have some substance in it.”

Actor Rajit Kapur has done films such as Guzaarish (2010), Kick (2014), and Begum Jaan (2017)